All articles by Jennifer Paterson – Page 78

  • Article

    Removal of Nest restrictions urgent

    2013-02-11T12:00:00Z

    The government’s Work and Pensions Committee has recommended the national employment savings trust’s (Nest) cap on annual contributions be removed, as well as the ban on transfers in and out of the scheme.In its report, Lifting the restrictions on Nest, the Work and Pensions Committee urged the government to introduce ...

  • Article

    Adecco rejigs pensions for auto-enrolment

    2013-02-08T11:47:00Z

    EXCLUSIVE: Adecco UK and Ireland is to harmonise a series of pension arrangements, introduce a multi-employer trust for its weekly-paid staff and a group personal pension (GPP) plan for its monthly-paid staff to comply with its auto-enrolment duties.The group of recruitment organisations has 20,000 weekly-paid staff and 3,000 monthly paid ...

  • Article

    SR Technics UK completes pension buy-out

    2013-02-08T11:42:00Z

    SR Technics UK has completed a pension insurance buy-out that covers £200 million of pension liabilities and 2,500 members.Its defined benefit (DB) pension scheme was formerly in the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) assessment process. The transaction will enable the trustees of the scheme to grant members an uplift in excess ...

  • Article

    Wealth at Work appoints new chairman

    2013-02-08T11:37:00Z

    Wealth at Work has appointed Alan Whalley chairman.Until 2012, Whalley was UK chief executive at consultancy Mercer. He has also held positions at Watson Wyatt (now Towers Watson), including European managing partner and US regional manager.Whalley said: “I am passionate about meeting the rapidly growing need to help people manage ...

  • Article

    Premier launches specialist charities unit

    2013-02-08T11:35:00Z

    Premier has launched a specialist charities unit, which will offer a range of pensions, benefits and actuarial services for charities, not-for-profit organisations and educational establishments.It has also set up a charity pension team, which will be led by John Reeve, head of consulting services (pictured).Reeve said: “We are acutely aware ...

  • Article

    Virgin Media’s share scheme windfall

    2013-02-07T12:58:00Z

    Almost 2,500 Virgin Media employees could receive an average of £15,984 each as the media company is sold to US cable television giant Liberty Global.Around 2,468 staff who signed up for a sharesave scheme in 2009 will share in the proceeds of the deal, which was agreed on 6 February.These ...

  • Article

    Visa Europe trains staff to volunteer

    2013-02-07T12:52:00Z

    EXCLUSIVE: Visa Europe is to provide training to employees this month, before they embark on UK-wide volunteering assignments.The credit card company’s volunteering programme, which has been in place for several years, enables staff to develop skills by working directly with local communities.Through the Arc Building Better Business programme, which is ...

  • Article

    Call for major rethink on executive pay

    2013-02-07T12:52:00Z

    Pension fund investors have called for a major rethink on executive pay to align it more closely with an organisation’s long-term performance.The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF), Hermes Equity Ownership Services (Hermes EOS), BT Pension Scheme, RPMI Railpen and USS Investment Management have published a discussion document setting out ...

  • Article

    Killik partners Sanne Group for EBTs

    2013-02-07T12:51:00Z

    Killik Employee Services (KES) has partnered with fiduciary services provider Sanne Group to provide trustee services for employee benefit trusts (EBTs).The partnership will combine KES’s share plan administration technology and Sanne Group’s focus on specialist trusteeship.KES’s employer clients can now access the trustee service.Martin Osborne-Shaw, managing director at KES (pictured), ...

  • Article

    2013 Corporate Adviser award winners

    2013-02-06T12:13:00Z

    Employee Benefits’ sister publication, Corporate Adviser, announced the winners of its annual awards on 5 February at the Grosvenor House Hotel.Thomsons Online Benefits was named corporate adviser firm of the year 2013, while corporate adviser small firm of the year went to 80TwentyConsultancy.The winners also included:Ultimate default fund 2013 – ...

  • Article

    Most over-50s have never increased pension contributions

    2013-02-06T12:01:00Z

    More than half (62%) of over-50s who are still in work have never increased the amount they contribute to their pension, according to research by Friends Life.Its Pension savings report, which surveyed 1,606 ovr 50s who have not yet retired, found that, of those who have made adjustments, 56% have ...

  • Article

    UBS changes compensation framework

    2013-02-05T11:59:00Z

    UBS has implemented changes to its compensation framework to better align employee and shareholder interests.According to the bank’s Fourth quarter 2012 report, these changes aim to focus employees on medium and longer-term performance, provide them with the opportunity to benefit from the bank’s long-term success, and make the compensation framework ...

  • Article

    Medically-underwritten buy-ins could equal DB pension savings

    2013-02-05T11:46:00Z

    Trustees of defined benefit (DB) pension schemes could secure savings of 10% or more by de-risking their pensioner sections through a health and lifestyle underwriting technique, according to a report by the Pensions Institute at Cass Business School.A healthier way to de-risk: the introduction of medical underwriting to the defined ...

  • Article

    Small employers do not support consolidation

    2013-02-04T12:35:00Z

    Only a fifth of small employers surveyed believe the government should encourage scheme consolidation in the pensions market, according to research by the Association of Consulting Actuaries (ACA).Its report, Challenges ahead for the new medicine, forms the second part of the ACA’s Smaller firms’ pension survey, which was published in ...

  • Article

    Mercer appoints Fiona Dunsire UK CEO

    2013-02-04T12:26:00Z

    Mercer has appointed Fiona Dunsire chief executive officer.Dunsire joined Mercer as a graduate in 1988, and has almost 25 years of experience consulting in the UK.Her previous roles within the business include senior client leader and business leader in Mercer’s investment business. She has also served on a number of ...

  • Article

    Vielife partners PMI intermediaries

    2013-02-01T00:00:00Z

    Vielife has partnered with a range of large and mid-sized private medical insurance (PMI) intermediaries.The health and wellbeing provider has not yet released the names of the intermediaries yet, but will do so throughout 2013.The partnership will offer the intermediaries access to Vielife Online, a platform that mines health and ...

  • Article

    Infrastructure platform secures investors

    2013-02-01T00:00:00Z

    A platform to support pension funds’ investment in infrastructure projects has secured ten funds as founding investors, reaching £1 billion in investment capital.The Pensions Infrastructure Platform’s (PIP) 10 investing funds are: British Airways Pension Scheme, BAE Systems Pension Funds, BT Pension Scheme, Lloyds TSB Group Pension Schemes, London Pension Fund ...

  • Article

    Technical support offers cost savings for fleets

    2013-02-01T00:00:00Z

    Employers could achieve the greatest fleet savings (39%) by improving technical support, such as automating car-servicing arrangements and specifying a partner garage for repairs, according to a review by LeasePlan.Its review of more than 133,000 company cars found that employers could save more than £50 million, an average of £400 ...

  • Article

    Two work-life consultations launched

    2013-02-01T00:00:00Z

    The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Bis) have launched consultations on extending the right to request flexible working, and the administration process for shared parental leave and pay, respectively.The Bis consultation, Modern workplaces: shared parental leave and pay – administration consultation, ...

  • Article

    Fund price impacts pension provider choice

    2013-02-01T00:00:00Z

    EXCLUSIVE: The price of funds is the most important considerations for employers when selecting a pension provider for a contract-based pension scheme, according to exclusive research conducted for Employee Benefits by Booz & Co.The Employee Benefits/Booz & Co Default funds survey, which polled 225 employers, found that 84% of respondents ...